CHAPTER 18
Timeline: 3 Days Until 18
Dawn broke pale and gray, casting long, thin shadows across the boarded-up windows. The house was silent—not peaceful, but holding its breath. Three days. That’s all we had left before the Council came. Three days to fortify, to plan, to steel ourselves for what was coming. And not a single one of us was sleeping.
I walked into the kitchen to find them already gathered around the table, maps spread wide, voices low and tight. Knox stood at the head, marking positions in ink, his face set like granite. Cole sat beside him, sharpening a blade, the steady shhhk-shhhk the only sound in the room. Jax leaned against the counter, going over a list of supplies, his jaw tight. Zane stood by the door, checking the perimeter one last time before the sun fully
